Supreme Court quashes Mona Ladies Lounge tribunal decision that saw it shut down

Tasmania's Supreme Court has quashed a decision that would have forced a museum to allow men to enter its women's only "Ladies Lounge".

Transcript

00:00It's a case that centres on whether a museum should be able to create a women's only ladies

00:07lounge and essentially discriminate against men in the process.

00:11And so it was a man who brought an anti-discrimination case against Hobart's Museum of Old and New

00:17Art after he was denied entry to the small closed off lounge.

00:21He won in a tribunal, but today that decision has been overturned by the Supreme Court and

00:27sent it back to the tribunal for reconsideration.

00:30A win for Mona and as the lounge's creator has described, a win for women.

00:36This is how we build a beautiful society and I'm very inspired by the occurrences in the

00:41courtroom today.

00:43In 30 seconds the patriarchy was smashed and the verdict demonstrates a simple truth.

00:51Women are better than men.

00:53We'll see how the men take it.

00:55The men are a little hysterical.

00:56I'm a bit concerned they're troubled by the power of women.

01:02They may appeal, but they're not appealing to me.

01:06So the court had to decide whether the ladies lounge was designed to promote equal opportunity

01:10for women generally and so it could lawfully exclude men.

01:15The tribunal didn't find this, arguing that present day exclusion of men in just one place

01:20can't realistically be seen as addressing past inequalities for women.

01:26But the Supreme Court took a different view, finding that women's disadvantage still happens

01:30today and in that case women should be lawfully able to create an exclusive space like a ladies

01:36lounge, essentially a positive advantage as distinct from a general societal disadvantage

01:43that they experience.

01:44Mona is yet to announce its plans, should the ladies lounge now be able to reopen.